More Fishing Stories

When Every Day Meant a Full Stringer

My Grandfather, who came to this country and became a US citizen, he arrived via a couple of years spent living in Canada. While he was there, he had the foresight to obtain an 99 year renewable lease for a good amount of acreage from the Government. It consisted of a small harbor and large, natural log cabin and surrounding woods. It was somewhere along Honey Harbor in the Georgian Bay.

My father and I discussed how popular the boxes of vintage lures he has, are on eBay, to collectors. Pop has always kept them stored in waterproof all purpose bags and that precaution has kept some of his 1950 era lures and plugs in nearly flawless mint condition. The sheer volume of artificials that he collected, many before I was born, is staggering and going through them is like traveling back in time. Each plug, spoon, hand painted jitterbug has it's own special memory of a morning or a warm afternoon, a boy with a small boat and very, very large fish.

I found myself recalling stored away black and white photographs of myself as a youth, holding up Northern Pike so large that I couldn't keep their tails from touching the ground! One old, faded photo which I wish had been taken with a good Digital SLR camera (for preservation) is one holding a Pike as I've only read about being available but hardly ever see, except on fishing magazine covers.

That Pike was taken at about two hours before dark in a small inlet filed with a dense water grass near shore and lily pads rolling out to meet the open water. We fished that inlet for an hour and Grandpa was telling me to "reel it in - we're going home." Something inside me said "one more" and I verbalized that to Gramps as the large Johnson spoon, tipped with a pork rind splashed perfectly right into a pool in the lily pads.

Within two or three cranks the fish exploded into the spoon and bent my rod almost to the breaking point as line screamed off the reel - the only "drag" being one's thumb on the spool. The line held, the knots were well tied and after an exhausting 15 minutes of wondering what it was - a Great Northern boiled near the surface and made one last desperate run, which eventually tired the fish and allowed us to finally snatch him into the boat. A true monster - I would be the envy of everyone and smiled all the way back to the cabin!

Next day Grandpa was into the live well and got busy cleaning the big fish when I came outside. Upon his motioning me to come, I noticed that he seemed to be struggling furiously with a pair of pliers. When I arrived at his fish cleaning table he tossed me the Johnson Spoon that he had just extricated from the fishes jaw. I was aghast to see that it was twisted a full 180 degrees and the hook was almost straightened out before he got it to pop loose.

The old lures were art and fishing tools, where by comparison, the modern offerings are for the most part much better and highly productive. They still don't inspire the sort of memories that a wooden, hand painted, glass eyes, fore and aft propellers. torpedo shaped, casting plug does when you cradle one in your hand and remember.

The Steelhead Are Gathering

They're Back!

Along the Lake Erie shores, at most of the tributaries, the Steelhead are gathering at the mouths and ready to move upstream. Nothing turns my friend on more than catching steelhead, browns, rainbows locally and nearby.

He alerted me Sunday night that they were going to be out and hitting some honey holes this week. Not being an avid trout fisherman I still manage to get excited discussing new tackle or other gear obtained since the last run of fish.

I asked him what they were using for bait and he relied "anything", translating to live bait, spinners, spoons, flies and jigs. He told me he was having his best luck with a hand tied jig, very lightly weighted and trailing about 6 feet behind a small bobber to keep it running at just the right depth for his presentations. This is an easily adjusted rig, slide the bobber forward to run shallower or let more line out to run a bit deeper. Of course the rate of retrieval can account for much of the same manual adjustments.

I told him that I found that very interesting, since we have for years, used the same technique on ultralight spinning gear to land large panfish. They really hit it hard, the bobber snapping straight into the air when the giant bluegills, rock bass, crappie and other panfish took the lure. This rig absolutely triggers some slamming hook-ups!

He whipped out his small fly box and showed me his handiwork grinning as he described the lethal attributes of each and every fly and jig. I smiled too, although not a salmon or trout fisherman, I am a dedicated fisherman, I just target other species as my favorites.

I went out to the car and made him a gift of an Ewa-Marine waterproof all purpose pouch to slide his small metal lure case into. His aluminum case might not rust but the waterproof pouch will also keep your gear floating, bobbing at the surface of the water for an easy and welcome retrieval.

Time to get the waders out guys, looks like those robust steelhead will be hanging around within casting distance soon, if they're not already!

Jet Ski Legislation

No More Whining!

Recently, legislation has been passed - since rumors last year began circulating about what could be done to avoid the unsafe practices, along with the constant nerve grinding whine, that the increasing thousands of jet skis were creating in our area of the Great Lakes.

Being a fun loving water sports kind of guy, I even got to a point where the mere sight of SUV's full of tourists, towing one or more of these wild little watercraft made me cringe as well. They wouldn't follow the "rules of the road", like speeding through channels of slow moving boats at 50 mph, weaving in and out of traffic and generally pissing people off.

Local tourism areas began publishing stories about such infractions to such a point that local State Representatives finally have passed a bill that requires jet ski operators to pass testing before they can be licensed to operate them on the lake.

What a relief it's been this summer without the hundreds of jet ski's mindlessly racing back and forth without any purpose but to spin around and capsize on their own wakes. No more 10 yr old operators who don't know how to read the speed signs in channels or care to obey them if they could read to begin with. Jet skis aren't particularly loved in our area, chiefly a fishing haven, where such antics not well tolerated by serious minded visitors.

The USCG is really showing a much stronger than usual presence this past summer and things have quieted down by 75%. A much needed fix to a viral problem these watercraft were becoming. Perhaps the great leap in fuel prices had something to add to these other measures.

Again, let me say that a jet ski is a lot of fun to ride but they have, for some or all of these reasons, slowed down, making for a much quieter and safer summer with less jet ski's on the lake. I hope that any readers who love these little critters don't get too ruffled, but something had to give. A little common sense has limited the amount of nuisance they caused but responsible operators are still welcome!

Perch Bonanza In Lake Erie!

Perch Fishing In Full Swing

My friends at the local fish company have told me that the near shore perch honey holes are producing decent catches of Yellow Perch, but are very small and barely "keeper" sized.

Compare these catches with those being taken in deeper water, North and East of the Bass Islands and I'm told that the perch being taken much further from shore and near the Canadian border are enormous. Really big hauls of monster yellow perch!

They told me that clients are catching 4 and 5 man limits in just under an hour, lots of double headers and all very, very big. Like 10 to 12 inches average size. As our old buddy Al Lindner says "I heard dat, some really big pigs!"

While this area is famous for Walleye primarily, Fall offers a bonanza of jumbo yellow perch and smallmouth bass fishing. If you're in the area you can rent private charters for 6 people or take your sweet time and take a fishing trip on one of the many "head" or "walk on" boats for a pittance. You're bound to catch enough for dinner and have a great day on the water. Don't forget to have your waterproof camera with you for memories of your fishing trip!

You know what Auggie says right? Auggie, long departed, was always one to mention "it don't take long once you get into 'em"!

Sailboarding!

Background and Beginnings:

This extremely popular water sport is actually quite new - as far as established and wildly popular sports go. This post actually speaks a lot about the historical background of the gear involved and not so focused on the "names and faces" of it's players, events and champions.

It was a man named Newman Darby, that had the first ideas of using a sail, mounted on a universal joint, to steer a small catamaran in 1948. Darby didn't file for a patent for this invention but he is recognized as the inventor of the sailboard.

It was two men, Jim Drake and Hoyle Schweitzer, that applied for and received the first patent for a sailboard. They called their invention a "Windsurfer." The early Wind-surfing boards were 12' long and weighed about 60 pounds.

In the late 80's, Newman Darby applied for and received a patent for a one person sailboat called the "Darby 8 SS sidestep hull."

In their article called "The Birth of Windsurfing" Newman and his wife Naomi wrote that "Newman Darby found he could steer a conventional 3 meter sailboat by tipping it fore and aft enough to make turns even without a rudder. This is when (late 1940s) Newman got interested in steering a boat without a rudder. Several sailboats and 2 1/2 decades later (1964) he designed the first universal joint to go along with a flat bottom sailing scow. This sailboard was fitted with a universal joint mast, a centerboard, tail fin and kite shaped free sail and thus windsurfing was born."

Jim Drake and Hoyle Schweitzer applied for a patent for their sailboard design. It was granted in 1970. Drake and Schweitzer based their Windsurfer on Darby's original idea and gave him full credit him for its invention.

"The heart of the invention (and it's patent) was mounting a sail on a universal joint, requiring the sailor to support the rig, and allowing the rig to be tilted in any direction. This tilting of the rig fore and aft allows the board to be steered without the use of a rudder - the only sail craft able to do so."

Schweitzer began mass-producing polyethylene sailboards of the "Windsurfer" design, in the early 1970s. The sport grew like a brushfire and became very popular in Europe. By the late 1970's, the windsurfing fever had so enthralled the Europeans, that one in every three households owned a sailboard!

The first "World Championship of Windsurfing" took place in 1973. Windsurfing drew such a following that it was named as an Olympic sport for men in 1984 and as a women's event in 1992. The history of this sport, despite having very recent beginnings, has so enamored it's enthusiastic followers, that it stands out as a great example of how the ideas of one man, can lead to the creation of such a widely enjoyed sport.

Disclaimer: Ideas for this article and some facts and figures, are based on widely known and published facts from a variety of resources. Thank you all!